Officer
ranks in the United States military consist of commissioned
officers and warrant officers. The commissioned ranks
are the highest in the military. These officers hold
presidential commissions and are confirmed at their
ranks by the Senate. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps
officers are called company grade officers in the pay
grades of O-1 to O-3, field grade officers in pay grades
O-4 to O-6 and general officers in pay grades O-7 and
higher. The equivalent officer groupings in the Navy
are called junior grade, mid-grade and flag.

Warrant
officers hold warrants from their service secretary
and are specialists and experts in certain military
technologies or capabilities. The lowest ranking warrant
officers serve under a warrant, but they receive commissions
from the president upon promotion to chief warrant officer
2. These commissioned warrant officers are direct representatives
of the president of the United States. They derive their
authority from the same source as commissioned officers
but remain specialists, in contrast to commissioned
officers, who are generalists. There are no warrant
officers in the Air Force.